Maranello, 17 December –What comes after Father Christmas? After 25 December the next festivity on the calendar is the start of the new year, but in Maranello, everything happens early, because if there’s one thing that can’t be lost, it’s time. That’s how after last weekend, when all the drivers who fly the Prancing Horse flag on race tracks around the world, be they the Formula 1 drivers with the Scuderia, the youngsters from the Ferrari Driver Academy or those who have taken the 458 GT to victory all over the place, transformed themselves into Father Christmas, today, bringing an early taste of the new year, was someone who shares his nationality with the best loved Father Christmas by kids of all nationalities, given that according to legend, he operates out of a base right in the north of Finland.

Today in Maranello, that other resident of Finland, Kimi Raikkonen was on hand to meet Stefano Domenicali and the senior engineers from the Scuderia. It was an opportunity to go over the current state of play on the design of the 2014 car, as well as a chance for Kimi to meet up with many old friends who, in a few weeks time will once again be his team These include Antonio Spagnolo, who next season will the Finnish driver’s race engineer.- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/friend-...h.ZVn1nrvD.dpuf

quoteAlonso: Raikkonen speaks very little and is more isolated, we will miss Massa

Ferrari is likely to miss Williams-bound Felipe Massa, according to Fernando Alonso, the Brazilian’s teammate of the last four seasons. The Spaniard is wary of his new teammate, famously a man of few words, Kimi Raikkonen.

For 2014, after a period in which Alonso was regarded as the clear number 1 at Maranello, the Italian team has signed up its previous World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, to replace Massa.

Alonso, who said that he counts Massa among his few friends on the Formula 1 grid, pushed to keep the 32-year-old on board, but ultimately must now face the prospect of working alongside the famously cool and odd Finn.

“Definitely Felipe was a hard worker,” Alonso told Brazil’s Totalrace. ”He works day and night for the team to improve the car’s performance.”“I don’t know Kimi, but the reports say that he speaks very little and is a bit more isolated. So I think that Ferrari could miss [Massa],” said Alonso.

However, Alonso played down the prospect that a bad working relationship between himself and Raikkonen – like the one between former Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and the retiring Mark Webber – will hurt Ferrari.

“What we have to do now is focus on making a good car in the winter,” he insisted.

“If it’s good, like the Red Bull, it doesn’t matter if there’s ‘Multi-21′, ‘Multi-35′ or anything like that, because the atmosphere in the team will be great,” Alonso added.